Asian markets boosted by US data

Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly rose for a second straight day on Wednesday, following another slate of impressive US data that helped the dollar march towards the ¥120 mark for the first time in seven years.

Oil prices edged up after suffering another sell-off in New York in reaction to news that Iraq had signed a deal that will see it export more crude to an already saturated world market.

READ: Oil prices tumble after Iraq deal

Tokyo climbed for a fourth straight session, adding 0.32% to end at 17 720.43. Sydney gained 0.77% to close at 5 321.8, while Seoul rose 0.21% to close at 1 969.91.

Shanghai advanced 0.58% to 2 779.53, but Hong Kong fell 0.95% to 23 428.62.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that US construction spending rose 1.1% in September, almost twice as much as expected, while industry specialist AutoData said the car industry saw a healthy 4.6% increase in sales last month.

News that US online sales rose 16% on "Cyber Monday" from a year earlier, according to the Adobe 2014 Digital Index, also helped to cheer markets.

The estimate for Monday's sales, often seen as the annual highpoint for online retail, helped offset disappointing data on the "Black Friday" kickoff of the Christmas shopping season.

The figures are the latest sign that the world's number one economy is back on track. On Wall Street US traders sent the Dow 0.58% higher to another record close, while the S&P 500 added 0.64% and the Nasdaq put on 0.60%.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said the latest data confirmed "the US economy seems to be leading" global growth momentum.

The dollar-has surged against the yen since the Bank of Japan's stimulus boost in October and is now heading towards the ¥120 mark, which it last broke in July 2007.

In other trade, the euro bought $1.2374 and ¥147.60, against $1.2381 and ¥147.62.

Oil prices edged up after tumbling Tuesday on news that Baghdad and autonomous Kurds had struck a deal that will boost the country's crude exports.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January rose 52 cents to $67.40 a barrel and Brent added 35c to $70.89. WTI had fallen $2.12 Tuesday while Brent had shed $2.00.

The announcement comes less than a week after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil cartel refused to cut production, despite a global oversupply, sending the price of black gold plunging to five-year lows.

Gold was at $1 200.38 an ounce, compared with $1 198.25 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

- Mumbai closed flat at 28 442.71 points.

Tata Motors was down 0.09% at 528.50 rupees while Reliance Industries closed up 0.38% at 966.20 rupees.

- Bangkok closed up 0.04% to 1 594.58.

Supermarket operator Big C Supercenter soared 6.77% to 268.00 baht, while media operator BEC World dropped 3.81% to 56.75 baht.

- Kuala Lumpur fell 27.82 points to 1 758.15.

Malayan Banking shed 2.8% to 8.95 ringgit, while Petronas Gas lost 1.0% to 20.90. UMW Holdings gained 0.7% to 11.00 ringgit.

- Jakarta ended down 0.19% at 5 166.04.

Palm oil firm Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology gained 6.33% to 7 975 rupiah, while cement maker Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa slipped 1.95% to 25 200 rupiah.

- Singapore tumbled 0.57% to close at 3 303.39.

Oil-rig maker Keppel closed 1.06% lower at Sg$8.44, while Singapore Airlines added 0.37% to end at Sg$10.94.

- Taipei added 1.55% to 9 175.26.

Smartphone maker HTC rose 1.94% to Tw$94.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was 0.36% higher at Tw$138.0.

- Wellington put on 1.34% to 5 503.07.

Contact Energy was up 0.48% at NZ$6.31 and Xero tacked on 0.31% to NZ$16.40.

- Manila closed 0.22% higher, adding 16.52 points to 7 360.75.

Technology stock Xurpas surged 41.18% to 8.40 pesos while SM Prime Holdings fell 0.12% to 17 pesos.